The purpose of this thesis is to get a clear understanding of the situation of transport infrastructure of Colombia. Examine the reasons and the current situation of the country´s background that explains the delay in infrastructure development and the poor quality of the transport networks, being able to find objective arguments to suggest certain type of investment for the coming years that will help to improve the conditions for economic growth. The research goes deep in to the evolution of the country and the role of transport infrastructure in Colombia, highlighting the most important facts and types, to get an overall understanding of the actual situation. The objective is to identify which is the line of investment that will best fit the country´s development in the time where globalization and free trade agreements take active part of Colombia´s growth in the last years, however threatening the industries pushing them to a more efficient and productive environment. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that Colombia needs heavy investments in the future years to try closing the breach left behind decades of inefficient policies and strategies. The involvement of the private sector in transport infrastructure projects is necessary to fund the type of investments that the country needs. Furthermore, there has to be continuity in the actual concession programs for the road network plus a big investment to bring back the railroad network into an efficient long lengths transport for both passengers and products.

Clinical Research is expanding into an international and more regulated environment, specifically its quality management. Pharmaceuticals and Research Organizations are investing significant amounts of money as well as the regulatory agencies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are improving and developing regulations and meetings to standardize globally these practices. Therefore this Thesis integrates and extends the FDA and EMA recommendation of implementing “Risk based quality management” in Clinical Research protocol execution with a multisource point of view and the proposal of adding a Risk Management Report as an output, which will work also as an input for future protocols implementation. Diverse articles and regulations related with Quality Management and Clinical Research Processes were reviewed to work as a base for the analysis of this thesis. Risk Based Quality Management is the actual trend and newly implemented process to improve quality in clinical research. The goal of this Thesis is to combine the different actual factors, methods and regulations in order to expand Risk Based Quality Management and reach a better degree in quality and standardization. The question therefore is whether this redesigned Risk Based Quality Management process can really be incorporated with the actual practices, and if it is possible to adopt it in Clinical Research.

Latin America has become a potential market in the lately years. Brazil has a potential market, being the fifth largest country in terms of population; moreover, the Brazilian economy has grown over the past years with the increasing middle class consumers. Mexico, on the other hand, with its strategic position and as a bridge for the whole American continent and having the most free trade agreements in the world is definitively an attractive investment destination. The main objective of this research is to study what type of entry modes should German companies in the high- tech industry and automotive industry use in Latin American market. As part of the research there has been a study of the internationalization theories, the entry modes and the factors that might affect the entry mode. Besides, the author has approached which characteristics do the Latin American market has and which opportunities may German Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises benefit from. Furthermore, this research incorporates some case analysis from German companies who already entered into this region, as a result there would be a analysis in order to see which patterns those companies have followed.

Before the eruption of the latest financial crisis in 2008, Social Responsible Investments were considered as not relevant within the financial market's spectrum, in fact, late 90`s academic literature argues that Social Responsible Investments worsen portfolio performance, seemingly a well established paradigm for almost thirty years. However, why the perception of financial markets about Social Responsible Investments is changing?
Given the controversy surrounding Social Responsible Investments, the current document has tested the performance of a selection of Social Responsible portfolios for the period (2007-2014). Results showed that performance is not diminished and Social Responsible portfolios do not perform significantly different from the benchmark market. Additionally, theory and results are replicated into an interactive business game that aims to discover Social Investment profiles for users and highlight the importance of Social Responsible Investment in financial markets making the current document a combination of financial theory with the design of practical game fully playable.

In the last 30 years academics were exploring the field of ethical consumption and identified an attitude - behavior gap in the decision making process. Since then diverse studies have been implemented to understand ethical consumers' attitudes, motives and behavior. Parallel to the academic research being developed, there had been an increasing interest from the consumer side in behaving and consuming more ethically. Particularly, consumers have inclined their ethical purchases towards fair trade products. The present exploratory research implemented a quantitative metaphoric method called Zaltman Elicitation Metaphoric Technique (ZMET) to further contribute in the literature of ethical and fair trade consumption. The ZMET in-depth interviews were carried out with 10 German fair trade food consumers during the months of February and March in 2015. The results revealed a connection between participants' feelings, emotions, personal values and fair trade food consumption; likewise the research identified an association of fair trade to sustainability.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study and understand the theoretical model of New Product Design and Development Process and New Product Development Process followed by Automobile Manufacturing Companies in order to understand the similarities and differences between the theoretical model and practical process of New Product Development.
Key Concepts
The main concepts reviewed in the paper are theoretical “Stage – Gate model” of New Product Design and Development, New Product Development Process followed in automobile industry, role of various departments in the New Product Development Process.
Methodology
The methodology used to review the concepts exposed in this paper was theoretical research.
Conclusion
Generic product development process as described by Ulriche & Eppinger sets up overall framework of the product development process but it does not describe the micro-level activities of the new product development process. Whereas the practical process of new product development works out on very micro-level details of the task and activities in new product development process.
Generic product development process is a simple framework and hence it is common for any organisation, but actual process of new product design and development is worked out to the very detail level according to functions in an organisation and hence it changes from product to product and organisation to organisation.

With the ever increasing global competitive business environment, capturing new lucrative markets has taken the forefront for Multinational Entities (MNE’s). In the recent past, emerging countries have gained prominence as a focal growth destination for many MNEs. Despite the business opportunities that they offer, they still remain complex markets in which to do business. Consequently, for the MNEs that have made entry into these markets, adequate growth strategies designed to include sets of activities that deliver a unique mix of value to the organization are imperative.1 This therefore calls for such organisations to adapt their existing growth strategies in emerging markets to various demands. This is in order to maximise performance through well-orchestrated growth agendas that work in concert with the overall corporate strategy. Nevertheless, for overall success, businesses are becoming more aware that operational and control failures can be extremely costly.2 This is because growth comes with increased risks hence a need for new solutions to mitigate and manage the risks. Consequently, the discipline of compliance which is designed to mitigate risks through adherence of; legal requirements, internal and external policies is no longer a second-thought function that requires action down the road. Corporate leaders now recognize that it is important for business expansion and the protection of shareholder value.3 In these markets, compliance related issues have proved to be difficult hurdles for many organisations and they are widely viewed high risk compliance markets. 4 Despite this, many MNEs that venture into such markets fail to integrate their growth strategies and compliance programmes/strategies.
This paper explores the hypothesis that for organisations to optimise performance, their compliance programmes/strategies should work in concert with their broader strategic goals, e.g. growth. This thesis aims to show how the two can be integrated by using Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ AG (RRPS) growth strategy in China and its compliance programme as a case study. The hypothesis is that, if successfully integrated, RRPS can maximise its growth performance in China. Secondly the study seeks to provide a flexible check list or template that RRPS can adapt in its future Integrated Sales Road Maps (ISRMs) in other targeted countries or regions.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among internet companies increased rapidly during the last decade which was caused by the growing competition and changing consumer preferences. Many startup companies enter the market offering hit products and getting millions of users in a short period of time. Due to such quick success established internet players like Google, Twitter and Facebook tend to acquire these startups instead of developing their own R&D. Internet acquisitions are very risky and imply high premiums, therefore, their impact on the innovation performance is quite unclear in the short- and long-term perspective. There is a variety of factors that can affect the innovation performance of both acquiring and acquired companies after the M&A transaction. This thesis is aimed to analyse the impact of M&A on the innovation performance of internet companies taking into account recent acquisitions among social networking players. A case study about Facebook's acquisition of Instagram occurred in 2012 presents the main application for the thesis. Qualitative data for the research is taken from the articles that contain opinions of the industry experts which are then critically assessed using the main scientific concepts about M&A and innovation performance.

Due to the great cultural distance between Germany and Thailand, German leaders who work in Thailand may encounter several intercultural concerns. In order to effectively lead Thai employees, these leaders may need to behave differently from what they used to do in their home country in some aspects. Thus, this study examines the changing perception of leadership due to the effect of Thai culture form German managers who are working in German organizations in Thailand.
GLOBE project and its culturally endorsed leadership theory were the key literature explored in this study. To attain the outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. Twenty-three questionnaires were collected from German expatriate managers in German organizations in Thailand. While two in-depth interview were acquired from Thai employees who worked closely with German superiors.
The results confirm German managers greatly value inspirational and trustworthy attributes as well as avoid being tyrannical, tender and provocateur in order to work in German-Thai boundary. The leadership styles such as Charismatic/Value-Based or Transformational and Team-Oriented leadership also suit German leaders to work in Thai culture.

This thesis is based upon an interest in the field of neuromarketing and a desire to depict which is the most advisable strategy to implement in a situation, where there is a potential introduction of a methodology coming from that field in a new / foreign market. Special emphasis is put on the market entry strategy (modes of entry and marketing strategy).
At the beginning of the thesis, there is a brief inspection of the neuromarketing field according to the nowadays situation that lead to the creation of a methodology, which is called neuromerchandising®. This methodology is the competitive advantage of a German consultant company called neuromerchandisinggroup GmbH&Co.KG. With this patented methodology, this consultant company provides strategic solutions to numerous companies mainly in the field of retail.
The main purpose of the thesis is to define which are the decisions to be made while introducing this methodology to a foreign country and in particular to Greece, in order to improve the Greek retail situation.
This thesis provides an analysis of the tools necessary to speculate whether Greece is the appropriate country to introduce this methodology. After this analysis, the thesis provides solutions of the potential market entry strategy putting emphasis on the marketing strategy of introducing this methodology.
Internal documentation of this company, market reports and analyses are used to provide a professional framework of the dynamic capabilities in the venture of introducing this methodology to Greece.

Purpose: This study investigates the role that entrepreneurial talents play, and the influence of such
talents in firms’ success and raising funds through crowd-funding platforms as well. It discusses and analyses which talents are needed by entrepreneurs in order to place them in the best position to attract funds from these platforms. Further, the study attempts to create a bridge between entrepreneurial talent and crowdfunding, hence acting as one of the contributors towards the entrepreneur’s business success. Design/Approach/Methodology: This topic is a novel idea and it aims at examining whether or not entrepreneurial talents, as influencing factors should be taken into account when raising funds from crowdfunding platforms. This paper includes two main parts: theoretical and practical. In the final part, this paper provides lessons learnt. Originality/Value: This thesis will add value to research in the field of crowdfunding and its operation especially when entrepreneur funding is considered. Additionally, the hypothesis that forms the basis of this thesis, advocates for a new mode of sourcing for funds from crowdfunding platforms. This new approach is premised on the idea that the entrepreneurial talent can be a significant influencing factor for successfully raising funds from crowdfunding platforms. The analysis of the case studies will reveal an appropriate pattern of the talents needed and associating factors that will help entrepreneurs become successful in obtaining funds for their business
ventures, when they elect to use crowdfunding as their financing method. Practical implications: There are four practical implications to this paper. The first, is that entrepreneurs who intend to seize the huge opportunities offered by the crowdfunding platforms should place emphasis on convincing the participants in the platforms of their talents rather than placing too much focus on perfect business plan. Secondly, the platform participants should deviate from the traditional approach of WHAT to invest in, to a new approach of WHOM/WHO to invest in. Thirdly, from the perspective of the relatively new crowdfunding industry, this paper proposes for the creation of talent-based crowdfunding platforms as opposed to the project-based ones that are currently operating. Finally, the paper encourages the academic researcher to pursue ideas and new applications in the crowdfunding industry.

Nowadays, big sport events such as Olympic Games are not only an exciting carnival for sports enthusiasts, but also a good opportunity for the host country/city to accelerate its economic development. After more than 40 years of development, Computable General Equilibrium has been proved to be a very powerful tool to analyze the impact of big sports events on host country/city. In this paper, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be used as the target case to study the impact on the economy. A Supply model and a demand model will be established according to CGE theory to describe the case. This paper is not focused on the detail but the whole picture of Beijing’s economy by analyzing the industrial structure changes under the influences of hosting the Olympic. Beijing’s industrial structure development will also be analyzed in this paper.

Non-R&D-intensive firms and industries play and continue to play an important role in the German manufacturing industry, as their 41% share of value added in 2007 indicates. Nonetheless, non-R&D-intensive SMEs especially need to ready themselves for a future shaped by a continuously increasing internationalization of competition, rising knowledge intensity and complexity and an impairing job market situation due to demographic changes. Non-R&D-intensive SMEs are therefore more than ever required to boost the effective and efficient exploitation of firm-specific resources and competences in order to generate, secure or enhance competitive advantages. As studies however show, existing strategic competence management concepts are currently implemented rather by large firms. In addition to small firm size, low R&D intensity effects staff setup, innovation behavior, generation and use of knowledge and competitive market behavior which further negatively influence a firm's possibilities and propensity to implement these strategic competence management concepts. In a first step into this field of study, this master thesis aims to identify and analyze specific characteristics facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development processes in non-R&D-intensive SMEs in the form of requirements, drivers and barriers. A literature review addressing the particularities of non-R&D-intensive SMEs and the attributes of current strategic competence management concepts discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development builds the foundation for nine guided interviews of explorative nature involving four non-R&D-intensive SMEs conducted to acquire qualitative empirical data to complement the theoretical findings. A total of 22 specific characteristics, i.e. eleven requirements as well as six drivers and five barriers, facilitating or discouraging an implementation of strategic competence development in non-R&D-intensive SMEs were identified after forging the bridge between theoretical and empirical findings.

As waste generation increases, so are initiatives to recover products and recycling. A particular waste that has continuously grown is plastics. Since its introduction, it has provided practical implications to different industries; however, it has also negatively affected the environment by its disposal. The recycling of plastic has offered opportunities to conserve non-renewable fossil fuels, reduce energy consumption, and avoid waste. Many countries seek for a sustainable system to recover plastics such as PET bottles. Mexico’s high soft-drinks consumption had consequently increased the disposal of PET bottles. Mexico has developed a recycling industry of PET bottles by following a Shared Responsibility between government, industry and society. However, a lack of awareness and knowledge among the society about the importance to collect the bottles and to recycle them makes it imperative for the introduction of a system that could create a society that recycles more. Providing a description of the opportunities and challenges for a collection system in Mexico simplifies future chances of comprehending the direction and actions needed for increasing recycling activities in the country.

German medical devices companies are at the forefront of technology when it comes to innovation and R&D. Most of the European medical device manufacturing companies are located in Germany and the number of patents filed by these companies shows the amount of innovation in the industry. A majority of these medical devices are exported within the European Union countries. Economic slowdown combined with market saturation and increased competition makes Europe a very competitive market for these companies. Indian on the other hand is one of the fasted growing economies in the world. The Indian medical device sector is relatively an untapped markets for innovative medical devices. There are tremendous market opportunities due to the fact that local manufacturing base for medical devices are underdeveloped
and often neglected. Most of the local Indian manufactures are engaged in producing basic medical devices and mostly into medical disposables and supplies. Around 70% of the medical devise sold in India are imported products. There is a huge demand and supply gap that is not being filled by the local manufacturers. India offers the perfect new market opportunity for German medical companies looking to venture into emerging new markets. There is abundant supplied of skilled manpower, with wages lower than that of the neighbouring China. India also has a rapidly growing middle class with increasing purchasing power. However, the regulations in the Indian medical device industry are not very clear and transparent. The Indian bureaucratic system is rampant with corruption and red tapes that needs to be tackled and navigated skilfully. A Germany company looking to enter the Indian market needs to understand that nothing in India can be implemented by a text book style entry strategy. In this thesis, we will analyse few of the most suitable entry strategies for German medical device companies with the advantages and disadvantages of each entry mode. We will also analyse the process of doing business in India, which requires an understanding of various aspect of the Indian culture and business relationship building in India. Further, we will analyse the current market scenario with a brief analyse of the local manufacturers currently in the market along with some information on foreign players in the market. Will also interview 5 experts from the medical field and look into few real case studies.

The aim of this thesis is to identify and investigate the meaning of customers’ expectations in the IT-industry explained by the example of introducing a new product and to develop a strategy how expectations can be managed in the IT-industry.
The first part of the thesis deals with the reasons and the general framework for the research and defines objectives and scope of the thesis.
In the second part, results of the literature and theories about expectations are presented. These show what previous research has found out and give an overview about different types of expectations and corresponding effects. The flowing part constitutes the case study as research instrument and how it can be used to generate results. With the help of a case study of a specific example of the IT-industry the meaning of expectations regarding new products will be highlighted. Additionally, it gives_a basis to develop a strategy to manage expectations in the IT-industry.
Afterwards the results of the literature review and the case study are combined into a usable strategy to manage expectations of new products in the IT-industry. The thesis illustrates the necessary steps of the strategy and gives an assessment of the results.
In conclusion, the thesis argues that expectation management is an essential step of influencing innovation to optimize business and gives instruction to identify, manage and influence customer’s expectations. Besides, this thesis addresses industries which are faced with the challenge of expectation management and offers an initial research about expectation management in the IT-industry. Furthermore, this thesis intends to provide a basic research to show the importance of expectation management and inspire following research.

Unfortunately, even in these years of high innovations in society, many countries still have gaps in basic needs such as energy supply. Many people live off-the-grid (OTG) referring to not being connected to the main or national electrical grid since they live scattered or in remote location or simple because it is unaffordable. On the other hand, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the use of fossil energy increased in the 8 firsts years of the 2000 decade, and half of the energy use in the last decade was accounted to coal. This type of energy source is proven to be harmful for the environment contributing to global warming. New methods of energy storage have been created mainly in developed countries. For example, the photovoltaic (PV) lamps as the main product of a German company that fulfill needs in sustainable and renewable energy resources. However, developing countries may also need to look for practical solutions and the private sector can help. The financing of renewable alternatives is imperative to increase progress and, in these sense, private sector can help. For instance, increasing systems using solar energy for rural communities and promotion of affordable and efficient PV products such as portable eco-friendly solar lamps that replace the kerosene lamps, fan plus lamps, water filters and icemakers among others are helpful in OTG communities and need to be supply. Entrepreneurs that focus in fulfill this gap in society creates value and make a change in the countries. The importance of increase electronic appliances (energy-efficient) and “smart” applications (home area networks and energy storage devices) is undeniable for progress in developing countries and better energy use all over the world Solar energy provides products that not only help people but also maintains a balance between nature and habitants.

The study seeks for empirical evidence supporting the presence of weak form ans semi-strong form efficiency on the Vietnamese stock market. The sample includes the daily closing value of VN-index from 9th April 2009 to 3rd of December 2014. The results from both parametric and non-parametric tests provide the evidence, which implies the weak form efficiency in the Vietnamese stock market during the recent period from 4th June 2012 to 3rd December 2014. This period is used for testing the semi-strong form efficiency on the Vietnamese stock market. The results from event study do not support the semi-strong form efficiency in the Vietnamese stock market. The empirical evidence shows a delayed reaction of nine pharmaceutical companies' stock prices toward the earnings, dividend, insider trading and regulatory announcements. The findings in this paper are crucial for investors, analysts, academicians, regulators and the development of the Vietnamese stock market.

Although the market share of a specific airline is very often a rough estimation, it is still of great importance for the airline top management. In order to make the right strategic decision, management should be aware of its current position and its competitors. This information is important to decide on the airline’s fleet assignment, revenue management and planning and scheduling. A variety of different models exists for market size and market share forecasting. Since no single model provides accuracy, airlines usually combine and compare the results of different approaches. Generally speaking, market share can be estimated using different starting parameters, such as flight frequency, fare, quality of service, number of airplane’s seats, time of departure, etc. The market share depends also on its competitors’ strategy and current economic situation. As it is almost impossible to take into consideration all these parameters in one model, different techniques very often provide different results, and it is the task of the airline network planners to calibrate and validate the model. In this Master Thesis I consider market share as a parameter whose value is between 0 and 1 and which is calculated as a ratio of passengers travelled by a specific airline to a total number of passengers travelled between a given pairs of cities. This Master Thesis presents two objectives. First, it gives an introduction to the history of the airline industry. It analyzes the main factors affecting the demand, gives and overview of the airline network management and presents the most popular models for market size and share forecasting. Second, it estimates the airlines’ market shares for a given set of city pairs for 2013 and 2014 and finds the formula which can be used for future network planning. The estimation is conducted using the Multinomial Logit (MNL) model.

Today the author bought six jackets. A friend asked her if she needed six jackets, and if she had this money to pay to all of them. She said that she had only 35 euros and among those six jackets, she will (because they haven’t arrived yet) choose only one. The others five will be returned, because she has this option for free. Then, a friend of her asked: “But what are you doing?!” She answered: “Shopping. I am shopping and writing my thesis.” With pleasure, the author brings to this abstract a concept of brick-and-algo. Pure algorithm – pretty new – any barrier, (brick, the store itself). Experience that brings to the costumer the same feeling as shopping!
Concrete walls also refers to the corporate world, which “bricks” have become glass or simply partitions between one table and another in business in general. The bricks really have fallen apart and companies are going toward a horizontal way, where everybody talks to everybody; again without any brick or any barrier. The hierarchy exists, but in a different level as before. The physical point card became virtual badge, enabling the famous “home office”. Employees began to be evaluated and separated between generations, such as generation X and generation Y or Z (starting in corporations). Consumers have more rights about products and the economy and changing behaviors frantically.
With competitiveness, organizations rely on investing in strategies, assuming new responsibilities, performance necessary for the personal fulfillment of goals and objectives. Promoting the growth and development of its employees, through a model based on mission and values. The quests for survival of organizations have changed the organizational paradigms, in the sense that if before it was necessary to motivate the employees and that today need also to get their commitment. This makes companies to wake up to importance of positive environments, where employees can find favorable conditions to work more effectively.
With globalization and rapid growth of corporations via innovations, talent retention becomes a very important factor for the survival and growth of organizations. At present, the people of organizations must have the ability to manage competently, in order to satisfy and retain their employees, which represent values invaluable to the company. One of those values is the power to renew, create, innovating and to intrapreneur.
Stimulate the entrepreneurial capacity, then by inducing behaviors favorable to systematic innovation, by creating a dynamic of continuous improvement and speed up the process of modernization is a current world. In this sense, the author of the thesis, decided to already introduce innovation, even in the abstract, through another author, or more than an author, a poet and brilliant mind, Fernando Pessoa, when he said:
"There is a time when humans should abandon the used clothes, which already have the shape of their bodies, and forget their paths, which always leads to the same places. It is the time of looking forward: and, if humans don't dare to do it, they will have been, forever, on the sidelines of themselves. " (Fernando Pessoa)
In this context, this thesis proposes to treat about entrepreneurship in general, proposes to talk about intrapreneurship, about corporations, the individuals; and finally, the author tries to makes suggestions for the current decade.

There is an increase in concern for the environmental impact such as GHGs emission and hazardous chemicals discharge along with the wastewater, from the product production process. Likewise the concern in the social impact also rises, in which it include the use of forced and child labor, unfair wages and inhumane treatment of worker in the production process of various industry.
Moreover, with the change in business strategies to fast fashion, in which new product collections are launch four times a year. In response, company have change the structure of their supply chain to shorten lead-time, higher inventory turnover, high order fulfilment and lower price for their customer. However, while focusing on these factors, environmental and ethical are being overlooked.
With the pressure from the public, laws mandate by the government, as well as the foreseen market opportunity make many of the large company to start thinking about a way to eliminate environmental and ethical impact from their supply chain. Various techniques and instruments are developed in order to help the company to analyze and abolish these problems.
Two companies are used as an empirical studies, which are H&M and Inditex. Though the analysis the challenges they faced and instruments and technique they used in response to the challenges, one can clearly observe the different approach in handling the challenges of these two companies. Nevertheless, positive improvement in eliminating environmental and social impact from their supply chain can clearly be seen from their effort.

As this paper study how a brand can differentiate itself to stand out among the competitions for better growth opportunities, focus is given to two emerging trends in the market, the halal skincare and also functional skincare brand. Halal skincare stands for the skincare product that is permissible for Muslim consumption from the religious perspective. This trend is growing tremendously as Muslim is the second biggest religion in the world with high fertility rate. In skincare, the concept of halal would exclude the use of alcohol and pig-derives material in the product. This market amount to $46 billion in 2013 and is growing at 8% annually. This undercapitalised halal skincare market with few competition provides good opportunities for a brand to grow and develop. The functional skincare on the other hand, is a trend emerged over time where products provide additional benefits on top of basic function. This skincare trend is basically driven by modern technology that leads to many innovations of these multi-featured products. Example of the additional benefits that will be the focus in this study are the anti-aging and the sun care protection. Both trends gained enough attention by demonstrating a strong growth in the respective segments. This study will provide a snapshot of the current growing trends in the market and provide the key steps to position and differentiate a brand in order to stand out against the competitors with reference to the halal and functional skincare. The key objective here is to understand the determination of the brand positioning through the analysis of competitors, the target consumer and formulation of own brand differentiations. As every brand will be given a variety of judgements by the consumers, it is essential that a brand is position properly in the mind of the consumer in order to be successful in the market.

Family businesses are major contributors of a strong and diverse society. Not only help to keep power in the hands of small units (families), they also foster innovation and personal freedom and this is necessary to maintain a healthy society, which is also necessary not only in Mexico but throughout Latin America and other regions where emerging countries tend to be a majority. The presence of strong private businesses in a society can reinforce the social values of their communities. Wealth and stability that they create can foster personal growth around them, especially if the owners are responsible for philanthropic activities and civic leadership. Thousands of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries are reaching a difficult phase. Most of the owners who founded the company on the 60s or 70s and made it to the next century are ready to retire without having a plan of succession to the one who will be taking over. Some of these enterprises are also struggling to find a strategic path among lots of heavy changes on the corporate world while others fight unexpected competition from abroad, normally from developed countries. it is also difficult for companies to face this sensation of isolation on a daily fight for survival and for standing out. At last, many of them end up selling their companies because of pressure or failure, being victims of a powerful tendency of family businesses to stop growing and develop their potential. 1.1 Objectives Provide an overview of the SMEs in Mexico and their current situation. Uncover the possible factors that cause their failure. Suggest a different solution through implementation of corporate governance, the way bigger companies do. Investigate and explore fears and advantages of implementing corporate governance. Analyze how corporate governance can be integrated to a SME in Mexico. 1.2 Limitations of the analysis This analysis considers that the reader has a short background on business, as the basic concepts will not be detailed. The study will focus on solving a specific problem that the author considers to be crucial for any SME in a developing country to solve, but from the perspective of corporate governance. The classification of the group of companies that have been analyzed may vary from country to country. 1.3 Methodology This project comprises a study of the presented bibliography on the situation of the corporate governance in Mexico and how can it be applied to small and medium size businesses in order to face the current challenges. The study focuses on the role of the board of directors in the company and how it can lead to a case of success by giving up some control by the business owners and pass it to the experienced advisors that will be part of the board. A document called “Código de Mejores Prácticas Corporativas” (Corporate Governance Codex) will serve as a big support for the research, since this is the official document companies must take a look at before even start thinking on implementing corporate governance practices. The research includes results form an annual survey presented by “PriceWaterhouseCoopers” in 2014 that was carried out all over the world including Mexico. This survey was done between May 30th and July 21st in 2014 to 122 companies from Manufacture, retail, finance, mining, construction, wholesale, and agriculture, and it is considered by many firms as the most important survey to consider when analyzing the current situation of family businesses in Mexico.

This project builds an understanding on the evolution of financial intermediaries and its actors based on financial intermediation theory. By discussing the perspectives of borrowers and lenders within the crowdfunding industry, this study advises a way to create a competitive advantage for emerging Crowdlending platforms by leveraging on institutional investors.
This study recommends an inductive analysis of the crowdfunding industry, based on studies of other authors, observations of the industry and academic papers regarding investment behaviours. This leads to a Porter’s Five Forces analysis, which depicts the linkages among the actors of the business. The previous analysis suggests that institutional investors create positive linkages within the business; therefore, the project continues to explore the requirements of these agents when employing crowdfunding platforms as an effective investment vehicle.
As an investigation tool, a questionnaire is designed and delivered to institutional investors in the Latin American region. Results show that institutional investors lean towards short term credit operations structured under a monthly cash flow arrangement. While investors do care about the established communication channels and management of cash flows towards borrowers; support activities are susceptible of outsourcing and may constitute a value-added opportunity for financial intermediaries.
The context of this project is a study of the business expansion and development of the Becual Chile crowdlending platform as a young company in the market. The study is led by the Hochschule Furtwangen University and complemented by other two theses: ‘Credit Risk Model for a SME Crowdlending Platform’ (Aravena) and ‘Growth Strategies for SME Crowdlending Platform’ (Beltran).

A contract as one of the essential means which regulates national and international commercial transactions, intended to determine the rights and responsibilities of the parties and protect their assets. Parties to international business transactions may freely choose the law governing their contract. As a result, parties are free to choose a contract law which best fits their needs, irrespective of its connection to the particular transaction. The market of contracts offers a choice among the laws of national jurisdictions and uniformed commercial contract law drawn up by intergovernmental organizations. Even application of a reputable national law or uniformed contract law does not guarantee eligible certainty. In particular, uncertainty is not admissible in transactions of industrial products and technologies, where protection of intellectual properties is one of the crucial aspects. In the aforementioned conditions, it might be a problem for businesses to make an appropriate choice of an applicable law of a contract, which is less complex, involves adequate efforts of contract enforcement and costs of dispute resolution. The task of this research is an analysis of different legal environment and making suggestions to a business in a subsequent strategy, depended on scopes of business transactions, national or international, and power levels of the involved parties. The research to be carried out in the following four parts, problem setting, theoretical study, empirical study and implementation. Solutions of the problems related to making and enforcement of a contract and dispute resolutions, basically may be divided into preventive and reactive actions. The preventive actions include choice of an applicable contract law, involving various mechanism to ensure that each party will stick to the contract terms, like self-enforcement, reputation, third party audits. As the reactive actions there may be considered, formal litigation through the judiciary system, which might be costly and slow, and alternative dispute resolution, such as an arbitration, mediation and conciliation hearings.

The thesis provides analysis if the traditional automotive distribution model, defining the position of automotive dealers in the distribution channel. Their business model is analyzed from the perspective of value-adding activities performed at each stage of the distribution process and from the perspective of the profit centers existing generally in the business model at present. The research further turns to the automotive distribution in Belarus. The analysis of the Belarusian automotive market cannot be thoroughly accomplished without analysis of the Russian market, since the two countries belong to the common free economic area. The current condition of the Belarusian automotive dealers is considered in context of the macroeconomic downturn and obscure prospects, which is certainly one of the major challenges the industry is facing. The decreasing purchasing power of the population, high interest rates and exacerbating competition negatively influence the performance measures of the automotive dealers and their growth potential. Apart from the currently unfavorable macroeconomic situation, which is generally considered as temporary, the analysis takes into consideration basic transformation trends observed in social and technological spheres. The developments in the technological sphere also bear conflicting implications for the Belarusian automotive dealers and should be therefore thoroughly analized. In order to understand the potential of the Belarusian automotive dealers to introduce the necessary changes to the existing business model the balance of power analysis will be carried out according to Porter’s Five Forces methodology. The analysis is important from the point of view of the extent of the changes, which dealers are able to accomplish with a reasonable level of risks. The SWOT analysis will be further carried out to highlight the existing advantages and disadvantages of the Belarusian automotive dealers combined with external factors, which might influence positively or negatively their position. This chapter deals with the actual implications of the trends highlighted previously for the automotive dealers and provides the basis of the analysis of a sample strategy, currently implemented by the leading Belarusian automotive dealer, which is elaborated on in the last chapter.

International higher education has growing precedence in a global society where the world’s most pressing challenges are increasingly interlinked across borders. Thus, strategic initiatives are necessary to further open the industry in order to achieve its purpose of integrating an international,intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, function, and delivery of education programs. The purpose of this project is therefore to apply the tools and frameworks of Blue Ocean Strategy to the international higher education industry to determine how and in what directions the industry can improve its value proposition to customers and further expand the market. The macro environmental factors surrounding the international higher education industry indicate that it has high potential for continued growth. Political evidences of this include the governments of importing countries instigating programs to send students abroad. Exporting countries with political environment in support of a unified national strategy are at an advantage to capitalize on these opportunities. Economic trends indicate that the global education market is expanding, and that there is increasing demand combined with financial capability for importers as their economies continue to develop and emphasize further investment in socio economic growth through education. Furthermore, the economics of education in the United States indicate a growing imperative to increase foreign enrollment as education costs spiral and financial support from the government declines. Technological innovations are also helping to open up cross-border educational opportunities. The social platforms of Web 2.0 are allowing greater collaboration with open source information, effectively flattening the playing field and opening international higher education to the masses. Despite these opportunities, a micro environmental analysis indicates the industry is currently trapped in a quagmire of hypercompetition. Industry rivalry is high and concentrated, and the United States is overall losing market share to other exporting countries. Individual institutions face high threats from new entrants as the majority of incumbents are not reaching their export potential and have few barriers to entering the market more fully. However, as start-up enterprises face high barriers, to market entry, innovation will likely come from the incumbents within the industry. As competition intensifies in the face of a growing education bubble, the United States higher education industry is poised for disruption. A new educational model that starts at the bottom of the pyramid and moves upmarket can decidedly disrupt the status quo in order to create an improved, efficient global educational system; one that will help the industry break out of the state of hypercompetition and elevate it to fulfill the values and needs of society. Blue Ocean Strategy provides the solution to this problem as it analyses an industry not by looking at its current state in comparison with its competitors, but rather what the industry can become by looking beyond the competition to unknown market space. Successful implementation of Blue Ocean Strategy can bring the high financial impact needed to save the higher education industry from collapse. Frameworks guiding value innovation can simultaneously pursue low costs while increasing value for a large volume of customers. The strategy canvas and four actions framework of Blue Ocean Strategy provide effective analytical tools that help to clarify the process of strategy development, and empower visionary educational leaders to focus one what factors need to be eliminated, reduced, raised, and created in order to achieve a leap in value for buyers within and beyond the boundaries of the higher education export market.

This research aims to study transactional cost and organizational change management in a pharmaceutical company that had gone through the SSC implementation process through different regions, including Latin America. Eli Lilly SSC in Latin America is located in Mexico and was aimed to centralize standard routines and administrative transactions related to finance and accounting back office services for the entire region. In implementing changes of this magnitude, it is necessary to be prepared to encounter the transaction costs related to this strategic decision and for the internal resistance applied in organizational change process. In this sense, this research aims to study what are the main challenges and transaction costs involving a process of re-structuring the organization to the SSC business model, especially in Latin America. Taking as a base the change resistance elements mentioned by Burns and Scapens (2000) and transaction costs theory basis by Williamson (1981). The SSC, a relatively recent business model and a trend between multinational organizations, was implemented in Lilly across 4 different regions to support over 70 countries in all continents. Latin America the last region to be implemented had a proposed migration schedule within less than one year. The findings show that the main resistance to the existing process is related to lack of competence/information and attachment to control and existing routines. In addition, the transaction costs are closely related to the dimensions of asset specificity and uncertainty. We must consider that the lack of a formal change management strategy, within the LATAM region, was a risky move and had impacted the implementation process and stabilization period results. The chronogram had also to be changed due to unexpected details in the region. Latin America was more complex than expected due to the differences in regulations and culture between countries, also expressed a non-verbal resistance that was probably expressed through the lack of commitment of some personnel. The results of this research raise inputs to the next researchers and bring elements to be considered by organizations when implementing the SSC business model. It is useful to direct actions and strategies to control de change impact and possible transaction costs. Additionally, through the research we filled the purpose to build an overview on shared services model and discuss the main points that should be considered when taking into consideration to re-structure the business with this model, characterized as a centralization of services that are provided from one single point to multiple business units in order to avoid activities duplication, optimizing resources through the integration of technology, people and standardized processes (Deliotte, 2007).

Organizational Development is a relatively newer concept in the corporate world. This concept continues to being explored by researches due its growing importance and fascination results. Many organizations strive to establish a competitive edge by the evolution and differentiation in not only the OD interventions but also in handling their effects. Due to its intriguing nature, it has been the focal point of this study/research.
Scope of this research is to explore the perceptions of employees, which are created over a course of time about certain dimensions related to Organizational development interventions in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. Firstly Literature Review has been conducted to find out existing theory that has been explored and created over decades by past research about the OD interventions and also how the perceptions of employees/individuals are mapped with reference to Organizational Development and how it impacts their acceptance of these interventions. Secondly short interviews from the management (Directors/Heads of Organizational Development) of the key players of the telecommunication sector have been conducted to unfold the hidden issues, objectives, initiatives taken and hurdles faced by these players and hence has provided with certain issues on which substantial and extensive research has yet not been done. With the help of these interviews common objectives and common hurdles during OD implementation have also been identified among key telecommunication player of Pakistan. To limit the scope of the thesis, Acceptance of OD has been taken as the dependent variable while Perceptions of Organizational Development (Level of Uncertainty, Feelings about OD interventions, Opportunities for Growth & Development and Opportunities to Participate) were identified to be the independent variables with the help of literature review.
This study attempts to explore how the different dimensions of perceptions of Organizational Development exist amongst the employees of the telecommunication sector of Pakistan and how the negative/positive perceptions impact the acceptance level of these OD interventions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted from 20 employees (Five from each organization) from the four major players of the telecommunication sector of Pakistan namely Warid, Telenor, Mobilink, and Ufone.

This research is aimed at analyzing social media patterns of consumers in Russia and in Germany, and social media strategy of automakers. The purpose of the paper is to observe social media presence of three major car manufacturing companies and see what the social media preferences of consumers are during purchasing journey. Furthermore, the results include comparison between Russia and Germany as well as social media best practices of automakers. For this, data was collected from a random sample of people in Russia and in Germany through online questionnaire. After that an analysis of secondary data on social media presence of automakers was done. A total of 650 people participated in the online questionnaire. The data was analyzed for each country and compared with each other. The results revealed that there are a lot of similarities in social media usage. However, existing differences are very drastic and needed to be considered by companies when it comes to establishing a social media strategy in a specific country. Furthermore, selected car manufacturing companies have a relatively strong social media presence but are different among each other with some gaps that can be improved.

In this paper, I analyze the position of Indonesia current account during thirty five years from 1980 to 2015. The main findings may be summarized as follows:
(a)The movement of Indonesia CA position which interrelated mainly by the transaction of goods and services, and Ind IIP which interrelated to the getting indebtedness of the country.
(b)Indonesia as an open economy, for running CA position is determined by driving forces in macroeconomic scale, such as saving and investment, financial balance, real exchange rate, and trade balance. Indonesia recently is now more open to the free capital without strong foundation of financial system and human resources, so Indonesia suffers from the competitiveness problem.
In this paper, author was unable to find some data and interpretation. From policy recommendation, author strongly suggests government for some long-term policies.

This thesis aims to find out what are the career related self-perceptions of female researchers and scientist working or studying in the biomedical field in Finland and Germany. The literature research, statistics and empirical evidence collected by in-depth interviews are used to enlighten the cultural differences, environmental influencers and importance of self-esteem in career development. These in-depth interviews are arranged as individual narratives, which are then further analyzed in the data part. The main findings in the paper point out, that the support from the system provides better chances for women in Finland to combine family and the career, but many of the challenges are still rising form the lack of self-confidence and the tendency to avoid self-promotion. The both sides of working in the industry versus academy are as well looked into. Suggestions for new policies include better information for academics about employment possibilities in industrial the sector, positive role models who especially encourage women to combine work and family, and feedback and coaching in order to motivate women.

Aim: The research aims at contributing to the growing number of studies on banking performance by investigating empirically the effect of changes in the macroeconomic conditions on bank profitability in Europe for the period 1980-2009. For this purpose, data for banking systems of eight European countries on an aggregate national level are included in the analysis: Germany, France, Austria, Norway, Netherland, United Kingdom (UK), Spain and Italy. In addition to this, two measures are used to represent the bank profitability: net interest income (NII) and return on assets (ROA).
Methods: Panel regression models at three levels are deployed in order to estimate empirically the effect of the macroeconomic indicators on bank performance in Europa: individual estimations on a country level, cross-country estimations on a group level for Northern and Southern Europe and finally overall cross-country estimation on a European level.
Results: The estimation results suggest that macroeconomic conditions are able to explain most of the variation of the banks’ net interest income in European countries, as well as part of the variation of banks’ ROA. Additionally, they clearly indicate that GDP growth rate is the most significant factor influencing bank performance in Europe on all three levels of the model. The effect of the inflation rate is also considered for strongly significant and positive while the effect of the other macroeconomic variables included in this research is different and cannot be generalized probably as a result of the heterogeneity among European countries. Surprisingly, the results did not indicate any significant difference between Norther and Southern Europe, regarding the effect of the macroeconomic conditions on bank performance.

The purpose of this study was to work out structured ways to lead GVTs. The Model of Team Leadership, which has been worked on in chapter 5, has shown that a mental model that can be used by people leading a team is helpful also when applied for GVTs. This model for virtual leadership offers the possibility to locate possible issues and address upcoming problems that might hinder the project to succeed early enough, but with prior monitoring, surveying and examination. This model, which is based on the assumption that leaderships is being shared in teams and also multiple team members can execute leadership actions, can be applied in GVTs as a basic mental model by all team members. This helps creating a common understanding of team leadership and the areas where issues, misunderstandings and conflicts can stem from.
Secondly, this work showed that there is not one single form of GVT existing – as it is often the case in research work – and requires consequently different focus of leadership actions. The GVT Matrix is a first step, which tries to differentiate leadership challenges along the defined GVT types. This point can be addressed in future research to find respective data that are increasing the scientific relevance on the differences of leadership in GVTs that can then be applied in the model used in chapter 6.
This point is also the limitation of this research. As many data is available for general leadership of GVT, data on leadership issues relating special types of GVTs is relatively rare. The assumptions and validated findings that have been used to fill the GVT Matrix are not as fully scientifically reliable as it could have been. Future research can address this issue if new data is available which are examining the differences of GVTs.

2016 marks the 56th anniversary of the oil cartel: OPEC. It managed to increase prices in 1972. In doing so, it behaved in a manner consistent with a cartel, bringing about a wave of studies on it. This study provides an overview of Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s cartel behavior form 1980 to 2014/5, from five different perspectives. These perspectives, although have been studies individually, but never holistically.
This study grounds the research questions into the structure-conduct-performance paradigm for each of the five perspectives of cartel behavior. Each perspective is also backed by a theory of its own. The first perspective is that of the neo-classical theory of the firm, in that OPEC is deemed to be created for the purpose of creating profits for its members. The second perspective looks at whether or not OPEC is internally and externally stable by looking at economic and non-economic influences on the organization. The third perspective makes use of the theory of market contestability, in oder to determine which member in the cartel has had and still holds most influence within the cartel. The fourth perspective looks at entry and exit trends from OPEC, to determine what impact it has on the incumbent profits and that of the defectors. The fifth perspective uses the concept of black swan from the strategic management literature to discuss whether or not OPEC will dissolve in the next fifty years and whether this will bring about a golden or a black swan.
The methodology prevalent throughout the study is a case study analysis of the OPEC cartel behavior, however, two of the chapters also run a regression analysis (chapters 3 and 4), using variables identified from the structure-conduct-performance paradigm. The second and the third provide a descriptive overview via line graphs, while the last uses the methodology of observation.
It has been found that OPEC has earned abnormal profits which steadily increased, Saudi Arabia has been instrumental in managing quotas, and importance of each country is determined by the output it produced from one year to the next. In addition, economic influences are more important than the non-economic influences for OPEC's viability as a cartel, exit from OPEC is not advisable for the defector nor the incumbent firms and the cartel is not internally stable as barriers to entry are low and members can easily defect and can rejoin the cartel. Lastly, OPEC’s influence in the oil market is waning fast, which might lead to a black swan event.

Highlighted as a promising field that targets cost related problems and high research costs, the concept of Lean Management is applied in the biotechnology sector. Specifically, the thesis aims to develop and test a Lean Management implementation model suitable for biotechnological research laboratories. Using multiple mixed methods, a deductive case study approach is taken to investigate requirements for an improvement model. The use of observations and interviews deliver findings which enable the comprehension of the implementation environment. The review of academic literature provided the basis to conceptualize, develop and test a new model, called Biotechnological Laboratory Implementation Model or BLIM. Overall, the results of the implementation can be described as successful since the BLIM meets all requirements fully or with minor restrictions. Effects of the Lean Management implementation are positive and promise to deal with the mentioned cost related problems and high research costs. The findings of this thesis challenge preexisting views on the argument that the success of Lean Management models is subject to the individual characteristics of the organization. As the newly developed BLIM is separated into structured and agile implementation phases, this joint characteristic represents a contribution to research in the field of Lean Management implementations as such and proposes further areas to be researched on.

The field of entrepreneurship and its framework, the entrepreneurial opportunity process, are still young and maturing research areas that receive increasing attention from numerous authors in their academic reviews. While some researchers focus on the generic entrepreneurial opportunity process in order to gain additional insights into the phenomenon, others examine one of the entrepreneurial directions, such as social entrepreneurship or commercial entrepreneurship more closely. So far, a dichotomous approach towards the two types of entrepreneurship has been postulated by contemporary researchers that distinguishes them as two varying approaches.
This master thesis comprises both entrepreneurial directions and investigates their course throughout the entrepreneurial opportunity process, including the nature of the opportunities, their discovery and the decision to exploit an opportunity. The aim is to get a broader picture of the phenomenon of social and commercial entrepreneurship, its differences and similarities throughout the process and thus, examine the dominant dichotomous approach.
Primary and secondary data is gathered from case studies and interviews with entrepreneurs and derived from the information obtained, as well as from existing literature. Seven propositions are postulated that indicate possible differences and similarities regarding the two entrepreneurial approaches. Based on the findings from the testing of the propositions, this research paper concludes that the concepts of social and commercial entrepreneurship hold certain differences, Nevertheless, similarities are prevailing so that a dichotomous approach cannot be supported. The entrepreneurial directions can be displayed on a continuum rather than on extreme ends.
Finally, in order to provide possible future research objectives, an outlook section, containing a critical view on the tie between the entrepreneur and the opportunity is enclosed. It is suggested that the entrepreneur-opportunity nexus is much stronger in the social entrepreneurial context than in the commercial entrepreneurial context.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Germany has been lately a constant research topic in many fields; politics, economics, cultural, social and safety aspects etc. popping up in all the news worldwide. Everybody is concerned about it and tackling it from a different point of view. Some believe that it a mutual benefit to both the country (Germany) and the refugees. As Germany benefits a lot form the cheap labor of migrant workers in the different industries. Specially the fast growing industries like the rural ones. Others fear that they will weaken the German culture and economy. And that they are burdens on the national people and will cause many problems.
In this paper two aspects of the challenges facing the Syrian refugees in Germany are discussed: the first is their integration and acculturation with the German society and the second is the challenges facing the refugees in entering the German labor market and case studies of Syrian entrepreneurs who developed their own family businesses in Germany are presented. The interviews were held with Syrian refugees in the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2015/2016 in Arabic language. The groups that were interviewed were in Villingen-Schwenningen and Stuttgart. An analysis of the cases presented along with the findings of the surveys and interviews are presented and finally some recommendations are suggested.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have become a driver motor of economies. Moreover, in developed countries, the manufacturing SMEs play an important role in the value creation and employment generation.O'regan et al. (2006) presents that constant innovation is a key component to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Raymond et al. (2010) claims that particular manufacturing SMEs should continuously improve their manufacturing processes in order to ensure long term sustainability. However, given the lack of resources and experience, SMEs find it difficult converting research and development into effective innovation (O’regan et al., 2006). Researchers have explained why certain firms innovate more than others by identifying a number of critical success factors or drivers of innovation such as strategy, social capital (Balachandra and Friar, 1997) or R&D (Becheikh et al., 2006a, Raymond et al.2010). The literature on the topic is diverse, there are different approaches and there is not a consensus on how those success factors can be measured. Therefore, the present thesis develops a meta-analysis study of the empirical research on the drives of innovation in manufacturing SMEs of developed countries. The result is a consolidated framework of the success factors and its measurements proposed by 49 authors, those were organized in the different phases of a holistic innovation process. The process considered was presented by Tidd and Bessant (2005). In consequence, the contribution of the present thesis is to serve as a starting point for future studies on drivers of innovation and its measurements, also, to serve as reference for future researchers that will develop a meta-analysis study.

This study examines growth adventure of Turkey and South Korea that both tried to narrow the economical gap between them and developed countries. Although Turkey was in a better situation than South Korea in the beginning of their convergence experience, and they had similar growth and development levels at the end of 1950s, South Korea outperformed Turkey in almost every economic indicator and realized an economic miracle in a very short time. As South Korea is one of developed countries now and Turkey is still in the league of developing countries trying to be a developed one, South Korea model, is worth to be analyzed in detail. In this paper, the similarities and differences in South Korea’s and Turkey’s economic history, the comparison of their long term growth performance and the reasons why Turkey could not accomplish what South Korea did in the similar period of time, were put together in order to find answers to question of applicability of South Korean economic miracle to other economies, along with the question whether it was indeed a miracle. While comparing two countries, existing literature and similar studies were scanned. With the help of both qualitative and quantitative historical data, common issues of comparison, namely policies, international trade, education and innovation, were selected and these issues were analyzed deeper. In the last part of the study, a simple econometric model was built by using OLS regression, in order to see if the presented ideas could be supported with econometric approach. Although model did not provide enough information about reasons of growth in South Korean economy, the findings confirmed the problems of Turkish economy and success of South Korean economy. This study is a contribution to a broader understanding of comparison of two economies, which is an issue that attracts attention of several related people, especially in Turkey.

Entering a foreign market usually deals with different cultures and different values. Therefore, any company, which wants to expand abroad, has to understand the culture and their future customers. Markets are people says an old marketing paradigm. People shape the market according to their demand on the certain market. Culture is the main factor influencing the consumer behavior. Therefore, in this study we will consider closer the cultural differences between US, UK and Germany in order to understand the differences in behavior of consumers of grocery retail market. Comparison of the cultures will be done based on the Hofstedes’ dimensions of national culture.
Further, we will analyze the predisposition of these national cultures towards consumer ethnocentrism (CE) based on previous studies’ findings. These comparisons will give us an understanding of three cultures and which of those cultures influences its consumers purchase motives in favor domestic products. Additionally we will compare consumers’ attitude in three countries based on the current trend of sustainable and ecologically friendly products.
Finally, in two case studies, we will look closer at successful operation of German retailers in UK and US. Successful operation of American retailer Walmart in UK and failure of Walmart in UK. We will look at interrelation of the cultures with the foreign market entries of studied retailers. In the end, better understanding of these cultures will help to recognize why Walmart failed in Germany and succeeded in UK. The main assumption, that Germans avoid shopping in foreign stores will be either supported or denied based on the findings. However, this is a qualitative research based on secondary data, therefore limitations and suggestions for future researches will be described at the end.

In this master thesis a marketing strategy of a launch and expansion on the global medical devices market of a new product (AED NG) by a German middle-size enterprise Metrax GmbH is developed. In order to exploit growth opportunities three levels are investigated – internal situation of the manufacturer, competitive landscape and global AEDs market. Analyses of the company and its competitors reveal current market situation and position of the company on it. Various methods of used strategic analyses (PEST, Porter’s Five Forves, SWOT, interviews conduction with competitors, distributors, and employees of Metrax etc.) enable to create a strategy canvas of AEDs market in accordance to “Blue Ocean Strategy” framework and to formulate main propositions of the strategy concerning product. Research of special features of regional markets enables to define the most lucrative and perspective markets to expand for Metrax. After defining and proving growth opportunities assessment of risks and requirements necessary for implementation is made. Finally, an outline of strategic propositions and main milestones for their implementation are summarized into the concluding part.

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the professional journey of thirteen foreign doctors and the opinion of a German doctor, to explore how their integration process has been into the German labor market, taking into account their personal experiences; especially what they thought was helpful and the obstacles that they encountered during their journey, and to make recommendations for hospitals to help them address the integration of foreign doctors, something that should be done as soon as possible, due to the rising amount of foreign physicians coming to Germany to cover the many open positions that can no longer be filled by the local population.
The thesis is divided in four large sections; the first serves as a basis to understand the problem of the shortage of physicians in Germany; the second one is a literature review taking into account the migration of health professionals, cultural standards, intercultural competence and communication, the different acculturation strategies that immigrants use, inpatriation and integration, and last the management of diversity in healthcare; the third one has to do with the methodology that was used; and the last two parts encompass the findings and recommendations.
In conclusion, it can be said that recruiting foreign physicians is a very good way of approaching the actual shortage of physicians that exists in Germany. However, it is imperative that health care organizations, are aware that the integration process of foreign doctors and the adaptation of the whole organization to this new working environment is of extreme importance to provide the quality care that is expected at any health care institution, and it is imperative that hospitals recognize the need to include diversity management and a Willkommenskultur as vital pillars for the organization.

In the 21 century, global companies are spreading all over the world for the sake of chasing profits. Driving by the desire of new market & profitability, they struggle in the business world by competition, merge, innovation and utilize all the resources that available. Among them, hidden champions are winners in this period. However, it also needs to be asked for the hidden champions, will they been succeed in a totally different market? The answers came with new market in China, which will verify their belief. Coming into China, into different markets, is an inevitable step for most hidden champions, for development and defend themselves as champions.
This thesis mainly gives the hidden champions that working on Chinese market or going to this market a brief intro about the local situations, competition existed, entry & marketing strategy, and hidden champion real cases. In the following chapters, you could found: The definitions & characteristics of hidden champions, learning that what build the family business into the most successful business in niche industries;
The Chinese business historical moments, what makes the Chinese business culture today, and today’s business situations in China.
The entry strategies for foreign companies getting into China, discussing the different forms from licensing business to the wholly-owned subsidiary and their pros & cons.
The marketing strategies typically for hidden champion companies in China, applying the classic marketing management theories & localization situations in China.
Real hidden champion company case in hidden champion cluster in China, the current situation and value chain analysis.
New trend marketing risks & chances in China for 21 century, digitalization & cyber – physical system development.

This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis about the growing popularity of Korean pop music (K-pop) worldwide in recent years. On one hand, the international expansion of K-pop can be understood as a result of the strategic planning and business execution that are created and carried out by the entertainment agencies. On the other hand, external circumstances such as the rise of social media also create a wide array of opportunities for K-pop to broaden its global appeal. The research explores the ways how the interplay between external circumstances and organizational strategies has jointly contributed to the global circulation of K-pop. The research starts with providing a general descriptive overview of K-pop. Following that, quantitative methods are applied to measure and assess the international recognition and global spread of K-pop. Next, a systematic approach is used to identify and analyze factors and forces that have important influences and implications on K-pop’s globalization. The analysis is carried out based on three levels of business environment which are macro, operating, and internal level. PEST analysis is applied to identify critical macro-environmental factors including political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological. On the industrial level, major forces that shape the music industry in which K-pop’s business operates are evaluated based on the framework of Porter’s Five Forces. External environmental analysis is followed by the review of the global strategies of major Korean entertainment companies in achieving their organizational objective of turning K-pop into a successful global business. We identify all the key value-creating activities ranging from talent acquisition to customer relationship management in the value chain of K-pop’s industry, and analyze how each of these activities have contributed to K-pop’s success in the global market. In conclusion, the recent success of K-pop on the global stage can be understood as the rewards for the capability of its internal strategy to anticipate and capitalize new opportunities in external environment.

Crowdlending is a growing business model that originated from the new crowdfunding phenomenon. It consists of funding companies’ loans through joining money from many investors in exchange for regular payments. One important key value in this model is the speed of the credit approval and the investment choice. The upcoming crowdlending platforms facilitate their growth through the automation of those processes. This study explores the creation of a credit-scoring model for an entrepreneurial platform, in order to fulfill the necessity of quickly determining the risk and the characteristics of loan applications for SME companies. This study will also analyze the pricing loan strategy based on the risk of the operations. Finally, the thesis suggests a of the loans and concludes with a series of improvement measures for the model.

Mobile diagnostics – or mobile health in general – is highly appealing, not only for clinicians, but also for patients. It implies empowerment, in particular of those who are really in need, such as inhabitants of less developed regions within the world who have limited access to healthcare. It also implies simplification: Easy data management – a continuous flow of information. Therefore, development of miniaturized and highly integrated diagnostic systems allowing near patient “instant” diagnostics gain a lot of momentum since more than a decade. However, system integration requires time and a significant amount of investment. In addition, there is strong competition on resources from other emergent technologies, such as next generation sequencing which made the collection of e.g. human genome data less expensive and much faster. A more severe challenge is that mobile diagnostics require a change in healthcare management, e.g. towards integrated practice units. This, in turn, requires implementation of adequate reimbursement, standards of interoperability, training of staff, quality control. In 2010, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the grant initiative Mobile Diagnostic Systems (MD, 2011─2015) as part of its high-tech strategy. MD aimed at generating knowledge on how microsystem technologies fit into German healthcare environments. On the basis of interviews with multidisciplinary MD actors, this thesis evaluated retrospectively how the publicly funded innovation network managed to overcome pre-defined external barriers of diffusion, including technology, regulatory affairs and market access. Retrospectives reveal internal barriers involving knowledge and technology transfer, negatively influencing generation of innovation. In particular, financing still represents a high hurdle for biotech innovators in Germany: Larger firms look predominately for market-ready or in-market technologies rather than prototypes and venture capitalists are rare or extremely risk-averse. Another important finding was, that actors involved were highly focused on individual work packages. This risks of not seeing the whole environment embedding MD. Consequently, potential opportunities may be missed, e.g. synergies with relatively close (DIALOC) or more distant initiatives (Global Health Delivery Project-based discussion rounds). This could be partly due to the fact that publicly funded networking activities provide less freedom-to-operate because of pre-defined milestones. In addition, further development of actors with respect to role playing (e.g. boundary spanning or innovation selling) is often not included in such “innovation packages”, but can help to maneuver change. Internal barriers need to be addressed first before targeting the major remaining external hurdle: Reimbursement. Although the latter was covered within MD, standardization of technology evaluation is still an unmet need which strongly influences the willingness-to-implement novel mobile diagnostics. Thus, the value added is to be demonstrated to justify adequate reimbursement. Achieving this goal can be successful, when innovation networking finds its path towards a common vision, e.g. towards value-based integrated healthcare. Pathfinding and visioning can be facilitated by process promoter with excellent network management capabilities. In addition, such a promoter could help to further develop engagement, openness and commitment of collaborators. Therefore, transfer of MD activities to established “top” networks or clusters is recommended for securing valuable knowledge generated. In this environment, an important next step – globalization of MD for ensuring future return on investment – could be triggered as well.
Since MD innovation was found to involve both product and service innovation, maneuvering change is particularly challenging for small and medium sized enterprises. These could benefit from engagement in innovation networking. Findings of this case study can help all direct and indirect actors in the field of MD innovation or in other high complex environments to reconsider pathfinding as well as role playing in networking.

Rising globalization and digitization resulted in crises for the fashion industry. High competition and the interconnectedness of the consumers rule the market and put it under pressure. Owing to the growing power consumers possess, the requirements towards the fashion players are increasing. Customer experience is frequently discussed these days by academics as well as practitioners and emphasized as a competitive advantage. Yet, it is difficult to measure and to track its consequences.
Since customer experience is elusive and no industry specific measurement scale is defined, at first this work aims to identify relevant touch points of customer experience in the fashion industry by dint of a focused interview. The further objective of this paper is to enhance the comprehension of the touch points’ effects or rather the relationship of customer experience with brand loyalty. This is approached by a questionnaire based on the preceding qualitative analysis and the resulting model. This model defines the customer experience touch points as the independent variables while brand loyalty is examined as the dependent variable. The conducted linear regression analysis reveals a moderate effect of customer experience on brand loyalty and the touch points concerning the products as most relevant in this relationship. Additionally, the digitization aspect is addressed by the examination of the relationship in the offline and online channels separately. With respect to this, the present study recognizes that the extent of the customer experience’s impact on brand loyalty and the significant touch points vary across channels to a certain degree.

This thesis has the purpose to investigate the oil price as the global economic factor but also to examine its implications on the worldwide economy. Thereby the determinants of the oil price are investigated by tackling the oil price itself from three different perspectives – the supply and demand framework, the prevailing world oil market structure as well as from the perspective of already statistically proven oil price determinants. In addition, the arising macroeconomic implications of oil price fluctuations on oil-importing and oil-exporting countries are examined. The investigation based on a thought experiment demonstrates the supply and demand framework to be unable to fully explain all past price changes. The examination on the prevailing market structure identifies the world oil market to be best described as a supply, pure, closed, partial and collusive form of an oligopoly. Analyzing the competitive behavior of the world oil market on three levels identifies non-OPEC producers’ competition to behave in a Cournot manner whereas among OPEC producers Saudi Arabia is identified to be a Stackelberg-follower with certain conditions while at the same time permanently bearing the ambition to become the Stackelberg-leader. The identification on the best describing oligopoly model for the overall industry is inconclusive. Investigating OPEC’s cartel hypothesis does not fully exclude its collusive behavior but denies the OPEC to be described as a prime example of a cartel. The examination of already existing econometric analyses identified a total of 13 determinants to play a key role in the oil price definition process. Investigating the arising macroeconomic implications of oil price fluctuations show oil price changes to be of great importance for the overall economic performance and is best described as a form of a positive of negative vicious circle in which the interconnected second or even third round effects intensify the implications on the macroeconomic activity.

This thesis investigates the effect choice options in e-commerce applications have on consumers’ decision making. Previous research showed that a large number of options
can affect consumers negatively. However, the conditions for such choice overload are unclear. After reviewing the existing research, the amount of information (entropy)
contained in a choice set and individual differences were determined as possible influencing factors in an online environment. In a choice experiment, choice sets with
varying information loads and an assessment of the Big Five personality traits were used to test the impact of the two identified factors on choice avoidance behavior. Results from chi-square-tests and a logistic regression model suggest choice overload but without entropy having an effect. A logistic regression model revealed that extraverted consumers are easier overloaded. A low Neuroticism score was found to be related to less occurrence of a too-much-choice-effect. Consumers with a high Openness score on the other hand choose one of the presented options more often and were therefore less often
overwhelmed by the assortment. An interaction effect between personality and the amount of entropy was not found. These findings extend the research on choice overload and offer valuable input for marketers targeting consumers online.

Subject of the thesis at hand is the analysis of symmetric block ciphers with a block length of 32 bit. It is meant to give a comprising overview over the topic of 32 bit block ciphers. The topic is divided in the examination of three questions. It contains a list of state of the art block ciphers with a block length of 32 bit. The block ciphers are being described, focussing on the encryption function. An SPN-based cipher with 32 bit block length is being proposed by rescaling the AES cipher.
The 32 bit block length results in certain security issues. These so called risk factors are analysed and mitigating measures are proposed. The result of the thesis is, that 32 bit block ciphers can be implemented in a secure manner. The use of 32 bit ciphers should be limited to specific use-cases and with a profound risk analysis, to determine the protection class of the data to be encrypted.